Have A Very Harry Christmas, Liz
by ninjadevil2000
Summary: A Christmas present for my best friend! An AU of the scene in OotP, but instead of spending the evening with Cho, Harry spends it with someone else.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, the characters or places. Just the story and plot.**

**A/N: So this is a really special and cool story because it's a Christmas present for my best friend, Liz. We live on other sides of the planet (me in America, her in Germany), so we can't really give each other materialistic presents. And so we decided to write stories for one another for Christmas. I really hope you like this, Liz. And merry Christmas. :) I hope you have an amazing, fun, holiday. 3 Love you so much and thanks for always being there for me and always putting up with my crazy rants or weird quirks. You're the bestest friend I've ever had. :) I can't wait to meet you in person. Merry Christmas and I hope you enjoy the story! :)**

**Btw, I'll say it again: I love it that we share the same OTP**

**A/N II: This is an AU of the scene from OotP where Harry is with Cho in the Room of Requirement. In this story, however, instead of being with Cho, Harry spends time with someone else.**

* * *

_The room began to clear in the usual twos and threes; most people wished Harry a Happy Christmas as they went. Feeling cheerful, he collected up the cushions with Ron and Hermione and stacked them neatly away._

* * *

Ron and Hermione left, but Harry hung back, noticing Luna standing at the glass board near the wall. She was staring at a picture, and a glance at the glass allowed Harry to see tears falling from her eyes.

"Luna?" Harry said quietly, taking a step toward her.

She jumped and turned. "Oh! I'm sorry, Harry. I thought everybody had gone."

Harry shook his head. "What – what's wrong?" he asked after a moment. He saw Luna's eyes flick back to the picture on the glass and he followed her gaze. "Is – is that your mum?" he asked.

Luna nodded. "Yeah, I always miss her a lot during Christmas. I hope you don't mind me putting her picture up."

Harry shook his head again. "Of course not. That's what it's here for anyways. To remember those we've lost." He looked back at the picture. The woman had a very kind face, like Luna's, and the same eyes too. Dreamy but somewhat distant, as though she was thinking thoughts too complicated for a simple mind to comprehend. Her hair wasn't a dirty blonde like Luna's, but a light brown, the locks gracing her shoulders.

"She was very pretty," Harry said.

"She was, wasn't she?" Luna said, looking back at the picture. "Her name was Pandora. In Greek, it means 'all-gifted.' She _was_ very gifted. She was so curious too. Too curious," Luna finished, her voice solemn.

Harry breathed out and, seeing his reflection in the glass, thought of something that had happened to him a long time ago. He couldn't really explain why he had remembered it all of a sudden, but he did.

"You know," he began, looking down at his feet, "my first Christmas here, I found a mirror in the middle of the night. I had been wandering around under my Invisibility Cloak and I went into this empty classroom. I didn't understand what it was when I first saw it. I thought it was a miracle or a – a doorway or something, I guess." He glanced up at Luna. She was watching him intently, her grey eyes soft, but she didn't speak.

Harry sighed and he motioned for pair of them to sit down on the floor as he continued. When they were comfortable settled, he continued. "It was the Mirror of Erised. You know, whoever looks into it sees what their heart most desires. I – I saw ––" Harry swallowed, his voice thick. He hadn't thought of this memory in a while and thinking about it now made him a bit emotional.

Luna finished his thought for him. "You saw your parents."

Harry looked up at her. "Yeah, I did," he said with a sad smile. "How'd you know that?"

Luna shrugged. "I know how much you miss them. Every time before the lesson starts, I see you looking at their picture," she said, flicking her eyes to the picture of the old Order. "And," she continued. "I figured you saw your parents because I saw mine."

Harry started. "You – you've seen the Mirror of Erised?"

She nodded. "Here, in fact. The Room of Requirement."

"How?"

"My first year of Hogwarts. I was really missing my mum after my first few days of classes. I kept thinking about how she had often mentioned how she wished she could be my age, learning all about magic and everything all over again. I was walking around the school one day when I reached this corridor, and I remember I was crying because I missed my mum and because some my classmates had been bullying me earlier. I just really wanted to see her. Anyways, I must have been pacing or something because when I looked up, the doors were there in the wall. So I went in and I found the mirror. And when I looked into it, I saw me and my mum and my dad standing there. They looked so happy. While I was there, my mum told me a story. Well, I guess it was the 'mirror' her that did," Luna said. "It was one of the stories she would tell me after I had a nightmare or something bad had happened."

Harry didn't speak for a moment but when he did, he said, "I wish I could've known her."

Luna smiled and looked up from her hands. Her eyes shone in the dim light. "I do too. I know she would have liked you."

Harry opened his mouth, but hesitated.

"What is it?" Luna asked, having noticed the boy's hesitation.

Harry pressed his lips together, looking down rather abashedly. "Um, well, I just wanted to say that – that I'm sorry you're being bullied. I don't think you deserve that."

Luna smiled. "Thanks, Harry. I'm sorry you have had to go through everything you have so far. You're too good a person to have to deal with that."

Harry scoffed. "Well, I haven't really been feeling like a good person lately."

"What do you mean?" Luna said, and her tone was so indignant that Harry started.

"Well, it's just – well –"

"Well, nothing, Harry," Luna interrupted. "You're a very good person. Remember that."

Harry smiled at her without speaking. He had never thought of it before, but Luna seemed rather pretty in that moment. The dim light made her hair glitter, and her eyes were a special shade of gray; they glinted with a quirkiness and humor Harry hadn't ever really seen in anyone else before.

"What?" she asked.

Harry blinked, realizing that he had been staring at Luna for an unusually long time.

"Uh, nothing," he said hurriedly. He stood up, wiped the dust off his robes, and held a hand out to Luna. "Would – um – would you like – I mean, would you mind if I –" he stammered. _Merlin, he needed to remember to ask Sirius for advice about girls._

But Luna just watched him, waiting patiently as he took a deep breath and started over.

"Would you like me to walk you back to the Ravenclaw Common Room?"

Luna smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I would."

Harry breathed out. "Okay, cool," he said, feeling very much not cool. He pulled the Marauders Map out of his pocket and had a look at their prospective path.

Luckily, it seemed Filch was off the DA's trail tonight for the caretaker was in his office, on the other side of the castle, a floor below. Both Snape and Umbridge were in their offices as well, neither moving. Harry wondered vaguely if they were already asleep, but dismissed the thought as unimportant. He pocketed the map again, keeping it unlocked in case he needed to access it again quickly, and pulled the Invisibility Cloak out from the other pocket.

He held it out to Luna, thinking she could wear it in case they got caught, so he would be the only one in trouble.

Luna looked touched but shook her head. "We can both wear it, can't we?" she asked.

"Well," Harry began, "I mean, yeah, we can. I just –"

Luna smiled and grabbed the cloak from Harry's hand, unfolding it and swinging it around Harry and herself. They made their way out of the Room of Requirement, listening to the hiss of the doors as they disappeared into the wall, before wandering down the corridor.

"Um, so this is gonna make me sound really stupid," Harry began, lowering his voice in case Filch made a surprise visit, "but I actually don't know where the Ravenclaw Common Room is."

Harry could see from the corner of his eye as Luna covered her mouth with her hand, trying to stifle her laughter.

"Harry James Potter," she hissed. "You need to go out more."

He chuckled. "That's definitely true. Only last year did I realize that house-elves did all the cooking and cleaning around the castle."

Harry looked at Luna out of the corner of his eyes again, noticing her squinting her eyes shut and pressing her lips together, trying to keep from making a sound. Harry couldn't help but find the sight rather endearing.

"What did you think?" Luna whispered, her voice hysterical. "That the castle cleaned itself and cooked the meals itself?"

Harry smiled broadly. "I guess so," he chuckled, shrugging. "I don't really know what I was thinking, honestly."

He could see Luna shaking her head, but she gestured to the left as they reached a staircase that turned both directions.

Harry was taller than Luna by a few inches and he could smell her hair. It smelled . . . really nice. Sorta similar to the blueberry pie Harry loved so much. He blinked and looked ahead again. The two of them walked through the castle in a comfortable silence, occasionally muttering jokes to one another and stifling their subsequent laughter.

Eventually, and much to Harry's disappointment, Luna stopped at a stretch of wall that seemed to be nothing but flat, aged wood. In the center though, there rested a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. Harry pulled the Invisibility Cloak off the pair of them as Luna raised her hand and lifted the knocker.

"Don't you have a password?" Harry asked, and as Luna shook her head, the bronze eagle opened her beak and a soft musical voice came from it.

_"__How is a raven like a writing desk?"_

"What do you have to do?" Harry asked. "Answer the riddle?"

Luna nodded. "It's funny, though. When I was a first year, I thought you had to have a really smart answer, you know? But all you have to do, really, is come up with an answer and defend it. For instance, I can say that a raven is like a writing desk because both have quills. Ravens have feather quills, and desks are used for people to write with feather quills."

_"__Well defended,"_ the bronze knocker spoke again and the door swung open. As Luna stepped in, Harry gently caught her wrist.

"Luna?"

She turned back.

"Um, would you maybe like to go to Hogsmeade with me – uh – you know, next time there's a trip?"

Luna smiled. "That sounds nice," she replied. "I'll see you later, Harry."

"Goodnight, Luna."

"Goodnight, Harry," the blonde girl replied softly.


End file.
